Windows Vista restore or repair?

Sorry if these questions have been asked before. I did do a search, but maybe with the incorrect key words.

My daughter has a 5 year old laptop running Vista that apparently has gone belly up. The Computer Geeks tell her that the HD is toast, but I'm not convinced because it does get the blue screen of death with a message when she turns it on. Isn't that a sign the the HD is working?

She no longer has (if she ever did) the installation disk and never made a repair/restore disk. Do I understand correctly that any Vista disk, if she could borrow one from someone else, would work for using the diagnostic and repair tools? Lacking that, are repair disks usually available from the OEMs? If she has got her original software key (big if) can she get a replacement install disk from the OEM? Even if she used a borrowed install disk, couldn't she re-register the install with her existing key?

Sorry. At the moment, I don't have any further details on the computer make or installation.

She is getting a new notebook because she needs something reliable for her work. The questions above have to do with restoring the old one for her 10 year old son to use and I agreed to help as best I could.
Thanks

No. I don't. Just wanted to get some general info to start to help us (her) decide on whether it is worth the bother. A new HD would be fairly inexpensive if that is what it needs. However, re-purchasing the OS may be a killer.

At this point, I'm not even sure of the brand (Dell or Gateway, I think). So. I'm not sure of the key strokes to get it into safe mode (usually alt-F10 isn't it?). When she starts it up, it stops at the blue screen. I'm not even sure what the message is. If I can get enough general information to make repairs appear feasible and encouraging, I'll be able to get all the pertinences from her and eventually get my hands on the computer (she doesn't live locally).

On most PCs of that vintage and newer there is a recovery partition. Many, if not most, OEMs stopped supplying OS disks and instead built a recovery partition. The recovery process is start from the boot menu. REMEMBER, this type of recovery is intended to return the PC to its state when it left the factory. ALL data is lost.